I enjoy visiting my great-grandma, Annie Martinek, and listening to her stories of the"good ole days."

    One of the many crops she helped with on the farm was cotton. She used to pick up to 350 pounds of cotton and dragged it in a large cotton sack she had strapped onto her shoulders. She told me about the day she was out in the cotton patch just hours before her oldest son, Milton was born. And, how her seven kids, when they were little, would sit on the cotton sack as she picked cotton and dragged them along the fields. All this reminiscing brought back fond memories to her. She said, "I guess it's almost time to pick cotton now. I wish someone around here would plant a few rows of cotton. I would go out there and pick it.!"

This gave me an idea! I drove around and found a farmer who was willing to give up a small part of his crop. It only took a half a dozen cotton plants to fill  a huge planter. My great-grandma had the biggest smile I have ever seen when I delivered the planter to her for her to keep on her front porch.

Now, for the first time in a few decades, my great-grandma has cotton growing at her house. She showed me which balls were ready to pick and which ones would open up soon. She said her cotton pickin' surprise was "better than a dozen roses!"

S'panem bohem,

Blake Ryan, Lodge 25, Ennis Youth Club President

2007-2008 District Three King

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